Ghoulish Mortals — Local services in St. Charles

• Update with Response to owner below this*

I generally love this place and drive an hour to visit and support it. Today after shopping for a bit and then returning to buy some things, an employee abruptly came up behind me and snatched the art out of my hand I was going to buy, shaming me for attempting to carry it to the register. She pointed out the small signs sprinkled throughout that clearly read to take a pic of the art and bring it to them, however as I told her, I am looking at the art and these signs did not catch my attention. She then said if everyone just took the art off the walls there’d be nothing left up there. It was all so rude and unnecessarily abrupt , I simply said no thank you when she asked if I wanted what she’d snatched from me and left without buying the $100+ in art I was planning to buy. Your store is not conventional, which I love, but your employees should be anything but abrupt and rude. I can live without 100% of the items in your store. I’m a huge horror fan , but I’m not sure I’ll return after this experience.

**Reply: Firstly, thank you for your reply, albeit no apology. I do appreciate the time to talk this through because the interaction was not an ok response to what happened. I respect that you didn't want to dwell on the actual interaction, but that's where the real problem on my end lies , so I will have to revisit that part before we address your questions for process improvement.

She was incredibly condescending. My memory serves her berating me for taking it off the wall and not seeing the "Many" signs. To which I replied calmly, "I'm sorry, my attention is on the art , I am not paying attention to other signs" . To which she doesn't let it drop at that point and try and smooth it over with an I'm sorry, this just happens a lot etc. No she continues to say that there are tons of signs EVERYWHERE. Again, to my first point, there was one right next to the Creepshow art I was going to buy and I acknowledged I see it now and she basically keeps pointing things out to show me how dumb I supposedly am. That's not how we handle well meaning customers. I am a flight attendant in the service industry, and trust me, I deal with the customer I was yesterday all the time. Excited to be there, in my own world and can't open a lavatory door or notice a seat belt sign. I GET IT. But to NONE of them do I ever condescend the way she did to me. I would've simply said, hi there! Can I hang that back up for you and I'll have this ready for you at the register? If you find another one you like, just take a picture and I can gather those for you at the register." Instead she berates me like I was dismantling your store on purpose. I have intense patience with my customers, I am sorry , but I expect the same. Lead with kindness, always. I honestly don't care how often you deal with the same issue, that's because the process does work well enough and that's your frustration, not mine.

I honestly walked the store twice that day and didn't notice a single sign. Also in my defense I had just earlier looked at the Tiki art characters on the wall earlier by the front door, and the ones to buy were on the floor under them. So when I got downstairs and there were no other prints near Creepshow, I actually thought this must be the last one. I returned, played a game of pinball, walked over and carefully took it off the pin hanging it and then walked over to the scream one I was considering buying when she came sneak attack style from behind.

I would definitely recommend the sticker and number system. If I had seen anything more than a price that at least would've clued me in. I am never going to walk around a store with so much to see and read the 5x8 signs of text , never. I always walk out of your store feeling like I didn't see everything, it's sensory overload as it is. The thing people do look at is the price. You need a note under the price like at Ikea that says "Find this in bin E4" or in your case, "Request print #52 at the register...

Won't go back. Was told I was talking too loud.

Update 10/11/23* Revising to 1 stars now that I know my interaction was with the store owners and I was so "shocking" to them.

Seems like frustration after a long day was taken out on me.

My initial review was simple but thought I better add more detail. As you may be led to believe by the owner's response, that I was being disruptive in the store.

My "shouting" was not anything disrespectful or intended to disrupt their store and customers in any way. I am a 5' tall female and while my voice can get loud and carry at times; I'm hardly intimidating and I doubt I was the loudest or most "shocking" thing in a horror store that day. When I raised my voice, it was for less than a minute when i spent close to an hour looking around. A store that has a constant noise level from customers, spooky noise, theme music, and pinball machines. In fact, there was a loud group having fun walking by the owners before we did. No complaints it's what I would expect in a horror store that bills itself as an ongoing horror convention. I'm now surprised that group didn't receive the same treatment I did.

The exact incident was when I was excited to see an item that was shown to me while standing by the counter getting ready to check out. I was speaking (I'm sure in louder excited tone) with both owners directly including one who was seated several feet away. It was a quick discussion about the item being handmade and the cost. the wife then said, "why are you yelling". I did not argue or protest to the comment and just wanted to finish my purchase and leave. I don't think I said or "shouted" another word to her after the initial comment to me and only tried to finish my purchase at the register. To us the owner at the register did not appear or act shocked by my voice at the time.

At that point, I might have still considered going another time to get the item. My boyfriend even joked with the owner at the register that I would probably be back to buy it. I wasn't very offended until she proceeded to stand up and step towards the register side and continue to berate me like a child about "using an inside voice". She seemed like she was looking for an argument or perhaps trying to embarrass me in front of other customers as we were leaving (which we did peacefully and respectfully without a response). Responding to the owner's comment to my review of what they intended; if the intent was not to offend and just a reaction after a long day his wife could have stopped with the initial comment. If I was so shocking, why would they still let me complete my purchase as I would assume my small transaction wouldn't be worth the trauma they were experiencing. It seems like they have cameras and if the owners replayed it for themselves my version would hold up.

I suggest they consider revising their store descriptions they post online. Seems like they don't want to live up to them.

It should be Ghoulish Mortals; we are a "quiet" horror store. Please be careful on how much fun you have and don't disturb the owners; they get "shocked" by loud voices if they have had a long busy day.

The "fun horror" fan in me wonders if we also should be careful to not get the owners wet or feed them after midnight.

I frequent local businesses all the time and try to give many the support they deserve over shopping online. Several business owners know us by name and would call us valuable and loyal customers.

It's their store and their right to treat customers how they want. After working in the retail world, I wish them luck if someone like me is that "shocking" to them. I was looking forward to going to this store for months when I first drove by it. Very disappointing. We will be sure to share our experience with everyone we know.

I "shocked" the owners of a Horror Store by talking loudly for less than a couple minutes. Seems kind of funny when I think about it. Maybe I should consider it a badge of honor instead of feeling...

I used to enjoy coming here and checking out their selection of Legos, but after I was accused of stealing a lego (that I bought) that I bought by the lady with blue stripped hair I will never go to this place.

I bought a Lego figure with a guy with a purple beanie checking it out ( who wad also the only other employee working yesterday) he asked if I wanted a bag or receipt and I said no, since my bag has more than enough room for a simple Lego. I then went to the back where I open the Lego I bought to put in a present bag since it was one of my friends birthday present and I didn't want her to see. as we were leaving the back room the lady with blue stripped hair came up to me saying that she saw me put something in my purse and she just wanted to see. I told her that I bought it and actually said to her MULTIPLE TIMES that I can go up front with her to figure this out and can even show her the charge on my credit card to which she said no multiple times. She then said that she just wanted to give me a second chance in case I was lying and then proceeded to walk away saying that it's just not how to act in a store and that how it's 'things to not do at a store 101'.

I really did enjoy coming to this store and NEVER had any past issues but after being accused and then being denied the chance to prove that I did in fact buy a Lego is ridiculous. it was very apparent that the lady did not talk to her coworker, who was working at the register, and didn't even look back on the cameras only a few minutes back to see that I did in...